International telephony revenue settlement reform

摘要

The method preferred by the majority of carriers for revenue settlement in inter- national telephony is the Accounting Revenue Division Procedure (ARDP). It Was developed for a monopoly environ- Ment, and it is becoming less suitable in An increasingly competitive global envi- Ronment. This paper presents a model To relate the ARDP to revenue settle- Ment in a free economy. We conclude That, in general, cost-oriented ac- Counting rates cannot exist, that sym- Metrical settlement rates are likely to Benefit carriers of developed countries, And that policies intended to adapt the ARDP to a competitive environment, Cannot succeed unless it is recognized That accounting rate reductions must Go hand in hand with the modification Of the 50/50 revenue sharing principle of The ARDP.